Trouble countermeasure support system and terminal device connected to the same

ABSTRACT

An online manual capable of efficiently identifying a trouble cause and not requiring trouble for updating. A service engineer (SE) connects an SE terminal to a service support system ( 1 ) and transmits a trouble event caused in a device to be repaired. In a judgment route data storage section ( 16 ), judgment materials for identifying a symptom cause are stored in the descending order of the goodness of fit. A data extraction section ( 20 ) extracts the judgment material in that order and represents it to the SE terminal. When the SE selects a judgment material matched with the state of the device to be repaired, the data extraction section ( 20 ) extracts a countermeasure action content corresponding to the judgment material from the countermeasure-action data storage section ( 11 ), an action data storage section ( 12 ), and a content storage section ( 13 ) and displays it on the SE terminal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a monitoring system to monitorremotely, via a communication network, various equipment such asclinical laboratory test equipment for predicting e.g. equipmentfailures.

BACKGROUND ART

In the case where a failure occurs in a machine or the like, a troubleshooting manual and a service manual (hereafter, collectively referredto as simply manual) are used for determining causes of the failure andrepair methods, depending on the failure symptoms. For quickly restoringthe machine or the like from failures, it is important whether items toexamine causes of failures are arranged in a proper order in a manual ornot. For example, with respect to a certain failure symptom, if causesthat develop this symptom more frequently are described earlier in areference order in the manual, it is possible to shorten the timerequired for a user or a service engineer of the equipment to find thecauses of the failure, enabling quick recovery.

Accordingly, it is preferable that among causes of failures presumablefrom failure symptoms, such causes of failures as having higherprobabilities together with repair procedures effective for such causesof failures are so described in the manual as to be arranged withpriority in the manual. Conversely, a manual that is not described insuch manner has a problem in that it takes a long time to determinecauses of failures. Assume the case, for example, where check items notdirectly relevant to determine causes of failures are described withpriority in a manual, and moreover where procedures to implement thechecking are complicated and require much time. Considering that manyservice engineers do repair work using the manual in such case, anoverall waste of time becomes too much to ignore.

In order to update manuals, however, a lot of labor and time are needed.Thus, conventionally, manuals generally are updated only in cases wherethey become non-functional as manuals unless they are updated, such asin the case where equipment specifications have been subjected to majorchanges. In other words, in the case of minor changes, manuals aresometimes not updated. Besides, updating of documents for new equipmentmodels requires much time and manual work.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has thus been made to solve such problem. Itsobject is to realize a support system for trouble handling that canprovide an online manual that enables efficient determination of causesof failures and does not require laborious work for updating.

For achieving the above-described object, a support system for troublehandling according to the present invention includes: a diagnostic pathstorage unit to store a list of event data of troubles capable ofoccurring in an equipment, a list of data of diagnostic material fordetermining causes of the events, and a list of handling procedure datacorresponding to the causes, and further store interrelations amongthese data; a diagnostic material presentation unit to receive eventdata input thereto, and to extract, from the diagnostic path storageunit, data of diagnostic material relating to the event data inputthereto, and further to output the extracted data of diagnosticmaterial; and a handling procedure presentation unit to receive some ofthe data of diagnostic material output by the diagnostic materialpresentation unit and selectively input thereto, and to extract, fromthe diagnostic path storage unit, handling procedure data relating tosuch cause as determined by the data of diagnostic material selectivelyinput thereto, and further to output the extracted handling proceduredata, wherein the data of diagnostic material for respective event dataare stored in the diagnostic path storage unit with closeness-of-fitadded thereto, and wherein the diagnostic material presentation unitoutputs the extracted data of diagnostic material in order according tothe closeness-of-fit.

It is to be noted here that “closeness-of-fit” of diagnostic material isused to mean the number of times or frequency at which the diagnosticmaterial has served as a decisive factor for determining causes of anevent. Furthermore, an expression “data of diagnostic material arestored according to closeness-of-fit” is used to cover both: a modewhere the data of diagnostic material are stored together with dataobtained by quantifying the closeness-of-fit; and a mode where the dataof diagnostic material are arranged in a storage area in order accordingto the closeness-of-fit.

This configuration realizes that when event data of trouble is input,data of diagnostic material to determine its causes are output in orderaccording to the closeness-of-fit. Thus, a person handling the troublecan determine the causes of the trouble more efficiently.

Preferably, the support system for trouble handling further includes: anactual result storage unit in which event data of troubles, data ofdiagnostic material having been selected in determining causes of thetroubles, and handling procedure data of procedures having beenperformed to handle the troubles are stored as actual cases of troubles;and a closeness-of-fit decision unit to perform a process of decidingcloseness-of-fit of data of diagnostic data material to each one of theevent data according to the number of times or frequency at which eachone of the data of diagnostic material has been selected among the casesof troubles stored in the actual result storage unit.

This configuration realizes that the closeness-of-fit of the data ofdiagnostic material to each of the event data is decided according tothe number of times or frequency at which each one of the data ofdiagnostic material has been selected among the cases of troubles storedin the actual result storage unit. Thus, maintenance can be performedautomatically to present handling procedures according to thecloseness-of-fit of the data of diagnostic material, without requiringthe laborious work of updating.

Preferably, the diagnostic path storage unit in the support system fortrouble handling further stores therein data to decide degrees ofpriority of the handling procedure data for the respective ones of thecauses, wherein according to the degrees of priority, the handlingprocedure presentation unit presents the handling procedure dataextracted from the diagnostic path storage unit.

Preferably, the diagnostic path storage unit stores, as the data todecide the degrees of priority, at least one of: time required for eachhandling procedure; cost required to perform each handling procedure;and average time from after each handling procedure has been performeduntil the same event occurs due to the same cause in the same equipment.

It is also possible to allow a user to input selection to select whichof the data to decide the degrees of priority, using, as the data todecide the degrees of priority, at least two of: (1) time required foreach handling procedure; (2) cost required to perform each handlingprocedure; and (3) time from after each handling procedure has beenperformed until the same event occurs due to the same cause in the sameequipment.

Preferably, the handling procedure data in the support system fortrouble handling contains action content to describe individual actions.

Also preferably, the support system for trouble handling furtherincludes: an input unit to selectively or optionally input a combinationof the event data, the data of diagnostic material and the handlingprocedure data; and a new path registration unit to interrelate andstore, in the diagnostic path storage unit, the event data, the data ofdiagnostic material and the handling procedure data that are input bythe input unit.

This configuration makes it possible to store, at any time, newcombinations of the event data, the data of diagnostic material and thehandling procedure data. Thus, a support system for trouble handlingthat does not require laborious work for maintenance can be realized.

For achieving the above-described object, a terminal according to thepresent invention is a terminal suitable to be connected to any one ofthe above-described support systems for trouble handling, and includes:an event input unit to input event data of troubles occurring in anequipment; a diagnostic material input unit to receive data ofdiagnostic material output by the diagnostic material presentation unitand to selectively input some of data of diagnostic material as selectedfrom the received data of diagnostic material; and a handling proceduredisplay unit to receive handling procedure data output by the handlingprocedure presentation unit and to display the received handlingprocedure data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a servicesupport system and an SE terminal according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D are explanatory charts showing examples of datastored in the service support system.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are explanatory charts showing examples of datastored in the service support system.

FIG. 4 is an example of a screen displayed when the SE terminal isconnected to the service support system.

FIG. 5 is an example of a symptom selection screen displayed on the SEterminal by the service support system.

FIG. 6 is an example of a diagnostic material selection screen displayedon the SE terminal by the service support system.

FIG. 7 is an example of a handling procedure selection screen displayedon the SE terminal by the service support system.

FIG. 8 is an example of an action list screen displayed on the SEterminal by the service support system.

FIG. 9 is an example of a screen, explaining an action, displayed on theSE terminal by the service support system.

FIG. 10 is an example of a repair report input screen.

FIG. 11 is an example of a repair report input screen for a serviceengineer to register a new path on.

FIG. 12 is an example of a screen, displayed on the SE terminalsubsequently to the screen of FIG. 11, for a service engineer toregister a new path on.

FIG. 13 is an example of a screen displayed on the SE terminalsubsequently to the screen of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is an example of a screen displayed on the SE terminalsubsequently to the screen of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is an example of a screen displayed on the SE terminalsubsequently to the screen of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is an example of a screen displayed on the SE terminalsubsequently to the screen of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the SEterminal.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to the drawings.

[Outline of Service Support System]

A service support system according to the present embodiment is such asystem as operated and managed by an equipment maker for supportingservice engineers to, e.g., repair and maintain equipment supplied tousers (hereafter referred to as user equipment).

Hence, as shown in FIG. 1, a service support system 1 according to thepresent embodiment is connected, via internet 30, to SE terminals P₁, P₂. . . (hereafter referred to as SE terminal P) which service engineerscarry. An optional portable type terminal having connectability to theInternet, such as personal computer, PDA or cellular phone, can be usedfor the SE terminal P. In order to do repair or maintenance work, aservice engineer connects an SE terminal P, which the service engineercarries, to the service support system 1 via the internet 30, and doesthe work according to an online manual provided by the service supportsystem 1 to the SE terminal P.

For doing repair work, the service engineer first inputs a failuresymptom of the user equipment to the SE terminal P. Since the samefailure symptom often is caused by various causes, it is important todetermine causes of the failure correctly and quickly in order to repairthe failure properly and efficiently. For each of the expectablefailures in each of various kinds of user equipment, symptoms and theircauses together with diagnostic material to determine the causes by thesymptoms are interrelated and stored in a database in the servicesupport system 1. When the service engineer inputs a symptom to the SEterminal P, the service support system 1 selects candidates ofdiagnostic material considered to be effective for determining thecauses, and displays the candidates in the proper order of priority on adisplay of the SE terminal P. This order of priority (closeness-of-fit)of the diagnostic material is decided by the service support system 1 onthe basis of accumulated cases of handling failures, and is updatedappropriately when new cases of handling are accumulated, as will bedescribed later.

The service engineer determines the causes of the failure by doingconfirmation work, in order of priority from high to low, on thediagnostic material displayed on the SE terminal P. After the causes aredetermined, the service support system 1 selects, from the database,descriptions of handling processes fit for the causes, and displays thedescriptions in proper order of priority on the display of the SEterminal P. Thereby, the service engineer can proceed with the work, asthe service engineer watches the descriptions displayed on the displayof the SE terminal P. Thus, the service engineer can do the repair ormaintenance work properly and efficiently.

After the repair work, the service engineer prepares a repair report onthe SE terminal P. For this report, information is input such as:information about the user (e.g. user name); information about thefailed user equipment (e.g. model name and equipment ID); the symptomsof the failure; the diagnostic material having served as a decisivefactor for determining the causes; and information about e.g. thehandling work done. The information input to the repair report by theservice engineer is sent from the SE terminal P to the service supportsystem 1. Based on this information, the service support system updatesthe database storing the diagnostic material, and also updates the orderof priority of the diagnostic material and the handling procedure.

[Configuration of Service Support System]

Here, an example of configuration of the service support system 1 willbe described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 1,the service support system 1 includes: a data storage unit 10 having ahandling procedure-to-action correspondence data storage unit 11, anaction data storage unit 12, a content storage unit 13, a repair reportdata storage unit 14 (actual result storage unit), an evaluation datastorage unit 15, a diagnostic path data storage unit 16 (diagnostic pathstorage unit), a cause-to-handling procedure correspondence data storageunit 17, a user equipment information master file 18, and so on; acommunication processing unit 19; a data extraction unit 20 (diagnosticmaterial presentation unit/handling procedure presentation unit), anupdate processing unit 21 (closeness-of-fit decision unit/new pathregistration unit); and so on.

For each of user equipment models, as shown in FIG. 2A, codes of troublehandling procedures and codes of one or plural actions to compose eachtrouble handling procedure are recorded in the handlingprocedure-to-action correspondence data storage unit 11, with both codesbeing interrelated with each other. Action is a unit of work done by aservice engineer, such as “confirm”, “exchange”, “adjust” or the like.Each action is not necessarily composed of a single operation, but caninclude a series of operations. For example, an action “to exchange aseal” includes not only an operation to exchange a seal, but also anaccompanying operation such as “to take off a cover (at the location ofthe seal to be exchanged)”. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 2A,one trouble handling procedure SR0302 for an equipment model HA-8160 iscomposed of four actions A011, A239, A021 and A012.

As to all actions for each user equipment, as shown in FIG. 2B, actionnumbers, time required for each action, price of parts needed for eachaction, and hyperlink to action content corresponding to each action arerecorded in the action data storage unit 12, with these data beinginterrelated with each other. Action content is content for displaying adetailed description of the action on the SE terminal P in order for aservice engineer to be able to refer to in the repair work, and isrecorded in the content storage unit 13 as e.g. a file in HTML format orthe like.

As shown in FIG. 2C, data of repair reports prepared by respectiveservice engineers, after completion of the repair work, are recorded inthe repair report data storage unit 14, with the data being interrelatedwith each other, wherein examples of such data are report number, modelnumber of repaired user equipment, equipment ID of the user equipment,work date, code of failure symptom, code of diagnostic material havingserved as a decisive factor for determining cause, code of determinedcause of failure, code of handling procedure having been referenced inrepair work, and so on.

As shown in FIG. 2D, information to evaluate the order of priority ofhandling procedures for failures of respective equipment models isrecorded in the evaluation data storage unit 15, the information beinge.g. cause-based MTBF, MTBF, calculation completion report number, MTTR,cost and so on. MTBF means an average value of time from the time onefailure occurs to the time the next failure occurs. On the other hand,unlike ordinary MTBF, “cause-based MTBF” represents an average value oftime from the time one failure occurs to the time another failure basedon the same cause occurs again. It is to be noted that the data recordedin the evaluation data storage unit 15 are updated appropriately by theupdate processing unit 21 on the basis of content in the repair reportdata storage unit 14, as will be described in detail later.

For each model of user equipment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the diagnosticpath data storage unit 16 (diagnostic path storage unit) storesrelations among symptom code, diagnostic material code and cause code,which is determined by the combination of symptom and diagnosticmaterial. For instance, in the example shown in FIG. 3A, when “J23” isselected as a diagnostic material in the case where the symptom code forHA-8160 is “T11”, then the cause code of the failure is determined as“R01”. Note that records in the diagnostic path data storage unit 16 aresorted in order of equipment model names, and further that records forthe same equipment model name are sorted in order of the symptom codes.In addition, records for the same symptom code are sorted by thediagnostic material code in order of such number of actual results, fromlarge to small, that the diagnostic material codes have been used todetermine causes of the symptom. More specifically, the example shown inFIG. 3A indicates that in the records with equipment model name“HA-8160” and symptom code “T11”, the diagnostic material code “J23” hasbeen the most frequently used, with “J02” having been the second mostfrequently used, as a decisive factor for determining causes in pastrepair cases. It is to be noted that the order of the diagnosticmaterial codes in the diagnostic path data storage unit 16 is updated atpredetermined timings by the update processing unit 21 on the basis ofdata accumulated in the repair report data storage unit 14, as will bedescribed later.

For each model of user equipment, as shown in FIG. 3B, thecause-to-handling procedure correspondence data storage unit 17 storesrelations between cause code and handling procedure code. For instance,the example of FIG. 3B indicates that with respect to HA-8160, fourkinds of trouble handling procedures “SR0302”, “SR0201”, “SR0408” and“SR0409” exist when the cause of the trouble is determined as “R02”.

The user equipment information master file 18 stores all warningmessages which user equipment output. It also stores information aboutparts constituting the user equipment, and so on.

The communication processing unit 19 controls, via the internet 30,communication with external devices such as the SE terminal P. The dataextraction unit 20 (diagnostic material presentation unit/handlingprocedure presentation unit) extracts data from respective units of thedata storage unit 10 in accordance with predetermined conditions. Theupdate processing unit 21 updates the order of priority of thediagnostic material, and so on.

[Operation of Service Support System]

Taking, as an example, the case of a failure of a user equipment (modelname: HA-8160), the operations of the service support system 1 and theSE terminal P will be described specifically.

When a service engineer receives a communication from an equipment userand arrives at the user, the service engineer connects the SE terminal Pto the service support system 1 via the Internet 30. Thereby, as shownin FIG. 4, e.g., a screen (equipment model selection screen) toselectively input a model name of a user equipment is displayed on thedisplay of the SE terminal P. When the service engineer here selects themodel name of the user equipment to be repaired as shown in FIG. 4, theselected model code is sent to the data extraction unit 20 via thecommunication processing unit 19 in the service support system 1. Inaccordance with the model code, the data extraction unit 20 extracts,from the content storage unit 13, content of a screen (symptom selectionscreen) to selectively input a symptom from a list of expectabletroubles concerning the equipment model as shown in FIG. 5, for example.The extracted content is transferred to the communication processingunit 19, and is then sent to the SE terminal P. Thus, a screen such asshown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display of the SE terminal P.

On the symptom selection screen displayed on the SE terminal, theservice engineer selects a symptom that agrees with the symptom of theuser equipment. It is assumed here that a trouble message “T11 Lowflowrate” is displayed on-the user equipment to be repaired, and thatthe service engineer has selected the “T11 . . . ” on the symptomselection screen as shown in FIG. 5. The codes (Dxx, Exx, Txx and so on)each shown at the beginning of each symptom on the screen are symptomcodes individually assigned to respective trouble symptoms. When theservice engineer selects one of the symptoms, the symptom code is sentfrom the SE terminal P to the service support system 1.

When the service support system 1 receives the symptom code sent fromthe SE terminal P, the data extraction unit 20 extracts diagnosticmaterial codes for determining causes of the symptom by referencing thediagnostic path data storage unit 16, using the received symptom code asa key. As described above, the diagnostic path data storage unit 16stores diagnostic materials in order of such number of times, from largeto small, that the diagnostic materials have served as decisive factorsfor determining causes of each symptom in past repair cases. The dataextraction unit 20 sends the diagnostic material codes, having beenextracted from the diagnostic path data storage unit 16, to the SEterminal P according to such order of priority. Thus, such screen(diagnostic material selection screen) as shown in e.g. FIG. 6 thatdisplays diagnostic material, with the provided order of priority fordetermining the causes of the failure from the symptom is displayed onthe display of the SE terminal P. In the example shown in FIG. 6,diagnostic material for determining causes of the trouble (“T11”) aredisplayed with the order of priority (No. 1 etc.) being providedthereto. In FIG. 6, codes (Jxx) each shown after each order of priorityare diagnostic material codes individually assigned to respectivediagnostic material. Note that in FIG. 6 and later described FIG. 7 andFIG. 8, browser frames and the like are omitted in the drawing.

The service engineer confirms the diagnostic materials (confirmationitems), in the order of priority from high to low, that are displayed onthe diagnostic material selection screen. More specifically, in theexample of FIG. 6, the service engineer first confirms whether or notthere is liquid leak from an injection valve (No. 1 J23). If there is noliquid leak, the service engineer next confirms whether bubbles arebeing generated in flow channel of A liquid (No. 2 J02). If bubbles arefound to be generated, the service engineer selects this confirmationitem (No. 2 J02) on the diagnostic material selection screen. Thereby,the selected diagnostic material code is sent from the SE terminal P tothe service support system 1.

When the service support system 1 receives the diagnostic material codesent from the SE terminal P, the data extraction unit 20 determines thecause by referencing the diagnostic path data storage unit 16, using themodel name of the user equipment, the symptom code and the diagnosticmaterial code as keys. For instance, assuming in the above case thatdata as shown in FIG. 3A are stored in the diagnostic path data storageunit 16, the cause code to be determined is “R02” since the equipmentmodel name is “HA-8160”, the symptom code is “T11”, and the diagnosticmaterial is “J02”.

After determining the cause code, the data extraction unit 20 referencesthe cause-to-handling procedure correspondence data storage unit 17 onthe basis of this cause code, and extracts a handling procedure tohandle the cause. For instance, if the cause code is “R02” in the casewhere the content of the cause-to-handling procedure correspondence datastorage unit 17 is such data as shown in FIG. 3B, then four kinds ofhandling procedures “SR0302”, “SR0201”, “SR0408” and “SR0409” areextracted.

The data extraction unit 20 further extracts, from the handlingprocedure-to-action correspondence data storage unit 11 and the actiondata storage unit 12, information about actions constituting respectivehandling procedures having been extracted. The data extraction unit 20furthermore extracts, from the evaluation data storage unit 15, MTTRs ofthe respective handling procedures having been extracted. And then, thedata extraction unit 20 provides the extracted handling procedures withthe order of priority in order of the MTTR values from small to large,and sends the handling procedures to the SE terminal P. Thereby, asshown in FIG. 7, such a screen (handling procedure selection screen) isdisplayed on the display of the SE terminal P that handling proceduresto handle the cause “R02” are arranged in the order of MTTR from smallto large.

The handling procedure selection screen, as described above, displayshandling procedures that are determined by the selected combination of atrouble event and diagnostic material. In the example of FIG. 7, allhandling procedures, which have been selected by the service supportsystem 1 from the combination of the trouble event (event code “T11”)selected on the event selection screen and the diagnostic material(diagnostic material code “J02”) selected on the diagnostic materialselection screen, are displayed with the order of priority beingprovided thereto. Note that for displaying handling procedures accordingto the present embodiment mode, it is possible to select the order ofpriority from three kinds: (1) order of MTTR from short to long; (2)order of MTBF from long to short; and (3) order of repair cost from lowto high. In the example of FIG. 7, three handling procedures aredisplayed in the order of MTTR from short to long. However, if theservice engineer selects “Order of MTBF” or “Order of cost”, then thedata extraction unit 20 references the evaluation data storage unit 15according to that selection, and rearranges the handling procedures tobe displayed. Although the order of MTTR, from small to large, is usedin this example to initially display the handling procedure selectionscreen, it can also be such that the order of MTBF or the order of costis initially displayed, and is rearranged according to the selection bythe service engineer.

Now, when the service engineer selects the handling procedure “SR0302”which is displayed with top priority, the display screen of the SEterminal P is changed to an action list screen to list actions includedin the selected handling procedure, e.g., as shown in FIG. 8. Each ofthe actions displayed on the screen shown in FIG. 8 is provided with alink. When the service engineer selects an action as shown in FIG. 8,action content corresponding to the action is extracted from the contentstorage unit 13 by the link provided to the selected action, and isdisplayed on the screen of the SE terminal P. For instance, if theservice engineer selects the action [A011] on the screen shown in FIG.8, then the screen display of the SE terminal P is changed to suchscreen as shown in e.g. FIG. 9. The service engineer does the repairwork as the service engineer watches this screen. Note that actioncontent is designed such that it is possible, depending on the need, toscroll a screen, enlarge a part of a screen, and switch screensback-and-forth.

After the work is done, the service engineer calls a repair reportpreparing screen on the SE terminal P as shown in FIG. 10, and inputsthe necessary items. It is to be noted that in FIG. 10 and laterdescribed FIG. 11 to FIG. 16, browser frames and the like are omitted inthe drawing. On this screen, a path input column 40 is provided.According to the above-described example, for instance: “T11” has beenselected on the event selection screen of FIG. 5; “J02” has beenselected on the diagnostic material selection screen of FIG. 6; and“SR0302” has been selected on the handling procedure selection screen ofFIG. 7. Thus, the service engineer inputs these codes in the path inputcolumn 40, as shown in FIG. 10. The data having been input in the pathinput column 40 together with other data having been input to the repairreport preparing screen are sent from the SE terminal P to the servicesupport system 1. In the service support system 1, the update processingunit 21 stores the repair report data sent from the SE terminal P in therepair report data storage unit 14, as shown in e.g. FIG. 2C.

The foregoing is a description of the operations of the service supportsystem 1 and the SE terminal P for a service engineer to do repair work.

[Update Processing in Data Storage Unit]

Based on the data stored in the repair report data storage unit 14, theservice support system 1 periodically updates: the order of priority ofthe diagnostic material in the diagnostic path data storage unit 16; andvarious data in the evaluation data storage unit 15. This updatingprocess either can be performed at regular time intervals such as once aday, once a month or the like, or performed every time a predeterminednumber of new repair report data are added to the repair report datastorage unit 14.

As for the order of priority of the diagnostic material in thediagnostic path data storage unit 16, the update processing unit 21calculates, from all actual results of repair stored in the repairreport data storage unit 14, such respective numbers that respectivediagnostic material codes have been used for each same symptom in eachsame equipment model. Based on the results of the calculation, theupdate processing unit 21 rearranges the record in the diagnostic pathdata storage unit 16 so as to arrange the diagnostic material for eachsymptom in each equipment model in the order of the number of times,from large to small, that the diagnostic material have served asdecisive factors for determining causes in actual results of pastrepairs.

Furthermore, the update processing unit 21 updates content in theevaluation data storage unit 15 on the basis of the data stored in therepair report data storage unit 14. First, from records added to therepair report data storage unit 14 after previous updating process, theupdate processing unit 21 extracts records that agree with each other asto all the equipment ID, the symptom and the cause, and calculatesintervals between work dates in such records. For instance, in theexample of FIG. 2C, the record of the report number “123456” agrees withthe record of the report number “123452” as to all the equipment ID, thesymptom and the cause. Thus, the update processing unit 21 calculatesthe difference between the date data recorded in the work date columnsof these records. In this case, the difference between Mar. 26, 2002 andMar. 12, 2002 is calculated to be 14 days. More specifically, it isindicated that, 14 days after repair work was done according to thehandling procedure “SR0302” on Mar. 12, 2002 for a failure of a symptomdue to a cause in a user equipment, a failure of the same symptom due tothe same cause occurred in the same user equipment. Next, using thisvalue, the update processing unit 21 updates the value of thecause-based MTBF as to that equipment model name (HA-8160) and thathandling procedure (SR0302). In the example shown in FIG. 2D, the valueof the cause-based MTBF in the handling procedure “SR0302” for HA-8160is 193 days. However, by adding the data of 14 days as calculated above:(193×23+14)/(23+1)=186Based on this, the days of the cause-based MTBF, the number of samplesand the calculation completion report number are updated to 186, 24 and123452, respectively.

According to the above process, the update processing unit 21 updatesthe order of priority of the diagnostic material, the values of thecause-based MTBF, and the like at predetermined timings.

[Process of Newly Creating Diagnostic Path]

In the service support system 1 of the present embodiment, a serviceengineer can add a new path to the diagnostic path data storage unit 16according to the following procedure. Assume a case, for instance, whereno appropriate diagnostic material has been displayed when a serviceengineer has accessed the service support system 1 from an SE terminal Pfor repairing a failure in a user equipment, so that the serviceengineer, by himself, has handled it appropriately. In such case, theservice engineer can register, to the service support system 1, thecontent of the work done himself.

Hereafter, this registration procedure will be described, using aspecific example. It is assumed here that a warning message “T11: Lowflowrate” has been displayed on a user equipment, and hence that aservice engineer has accessed the service support system 1 from an SEterminal P, but that no diagnostic material corresponding to the symptomhas been displayed. It is further assumed that when the service engineerhas then checked by himself, it has been found that “Bubbles are beinggenerated in flow channel of A liquid”, and that its cause is “Badconnection between eluant tube and rear panel”. It is furthermoreassumed that for repairing this failure, the service engineer hassequentially performed four actions: replacing of replacement seal(action code: A011); retightening of connecting portion between eluanttube and rear panel (A239); confirming of piping pressure (A021); andconfirming of measurement operation (A012).

On the repair report preparing screen displayed on the SE terminal asshown in FIG. 11, the service engineer first selects a symptom in thepath input column 40. Here, the symptom “T11: Low flowrate” isselectively input. Note here that all warning messages output by theuser equipment are preliminarily registered in the user equipmentinformation master file 18 of the service support system 1, so that alist of all the warning messages is displayed in the path input column40. Accordingly, the service engineer can select an applicable one fromthe displayed list of warning messages. However, it also can be sodesigned that symptom codes and descriptions thereof for symptoms notregistered in the master file can be newly created. When the serviceengineer presses “New Creation” button, the screen of the SE terminal Pis changed to a screen, as shown in FIG. 12, to fill in causes. Now, theservice engineer inputs location (name of unit) causing the failure.Here, “Flow Channel System” is selected, and “Next” button is pressed,whereby the screen of the SE terminal P is changed to a screen as shownin FIG. 13.

On the screen shown in FIG. 13, parts of the flow channel system areextracted from the user equipment information master file 18, and aredisplayed as a list in a part list column 41. The service engineerselects applicable parts from the list, and presses an addition button42 for addition to a cause location column. Here, “Eluant tube” and“Connecting portion of rear panel” are selected and added. The addedparts are displayed in the cause location column 43.

When the service engineer presses “Next” button after the determinationof the cause location, the screen of the SE terminal is changed to ascreen as shown in FIG. 14. Now, the service engineer selects factor(stress) having served as the cause. Here, “Bad connection” is selected.When the service engineer presses the “Next” button, the screen of theSE terminal is changed to a screen as shown in FIG. 15.

Now, the service engineer inputs a diagnostic criterion for determiningcauses, using an optional character string. It is to be noted thatconsiderations should be made here to make the input diagnosticcriterion objectively different from existing diagnostic criteria. Thisis to allow other service engineers to be able to understand differencesamong diagnostic criteria. In the example of FIG. 15, the diagnosticcriterion that the service engineer has input is “Bubbles are beinggenerated in flow channel of A liquid”.

When the diagnostic criterion is input, the screen of the SE terminal ischanged to a screen as shown in FIG. 16. On this screen, by the actionnumbers “A011”, “A239”, “A021” and “A012”, the service engineer inputsthe content of the work done for repairing the failure.

The information thus input by the service engineer is registered by theupdate processing unit 21 in the diagnostic path data storage unit 16,the cause-to-handling procedure correspondence data storage unit 17 andthe handling procedure-to-action correspondence data storage unit 11, soas to become usable by other service engineers.

Here, referring to FIG. 17, a schematic configuration of the SE terminalP will be described. The SE terminal P is configured to be an optionalportable type terminal having internet connectability as describedabove, and includes an event input support unit 51, a diagnosticmaterial input support unit 52 and a handling procedure display unit 53as shown in FIG. 17. The SE terminal P also includes: a display 54capable of displaying such screens as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 16; and aGUI (not shown) that enables selection of data displayed on the display54 and also enables input in input columns displayed on the display 54.It is also preferable to configure the display 54 of the SE terminal asa touch panel.

The event input support unit 51 receives content data of the equipmentmodel selection screen (refer to e.g. FIG. 4) and the symptom selectionscreen (refer to e.g. FIG. 5) from the service support system 1, anddisplays them on the display 54, and further allows a service engineerto input event data of troubles occurring in equipment. The diagnosticmaterial input support unit 52 receives content data of the diagnosticmaterial selection screen (refer to e.g. FIG. 6) from the servicesupport system 1, and displays them on the display 54, and furtherallows the service engineer to selectively input some of the data ofdiagnostic material. The handling procedure display unit 53 receivescontent data of the handling procedures (refer to e.g. FIG. 7 to FIG. 9)sent from the service support system 1, and displays the receivedhandling procedure data on the display 54.

According to the present embodiment, examples of data in the sequentialfile have been illustrated above in FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D, FIG. 3A and FIG.3B as examples in respective storage units of the data storage unit 10.However, the data structure is not limited to the sequential file. Inthe diagnostic path data storage unit 16 as well, the order of priorityof the diagnostic material having been illustrated above is representedby an arrangement order of sequential records. However, it is alsopossible to allow each record to have an attribute representing order ofpriority of diagnostic material. Furthermore, the logical structure ofthe data storage unit 10 having been illustrated in the presentembodiment is only an example. The data structure can be opticallychanged, considering e.g. the efficiency of data retrieval and efficientuse of storage capacity.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described in the foregoing, according to the present invention,causes of failures can be efficiently determined, and such supportsystem for trouble handling can be realized that can provide an onlinemanual that does not requires laborious work for updating.

1. A support system for trouble handling comprising: a diagnostic pathstorage unit to store a list of event data of troubles capable ofoccurring in an equipment, a list of data of diagnostic material fordetermining causes of the events, and a list of handling procedure datacorresponding to the causes, and further store interrelations amongthese data; a diagnostic material presentation unit to receive eventdata input thereto, and to extract, from the diagnostic path storageunit, data of diagnostic material relating to the event data inputthereto, and further to output the extracted data of diagnosticmaterial; and a handling procedure presentation unit to receive some ofthe data of diagnostic material output by the diagnostic materialpresentation unit and selectively input thereto, and to extract, fromthe diagnostic path storage unit, handling procedure data relating tosuch cause as determined by the data of diagnostic material selectivelyinput thereto, and further to output the extracted handling proceduredata, wherein the data of diagnostic material for respective event dataare stored in the diagnostic path storage unit according tocloseness-of-fit, and wherein the diagnostic material presentation unitoutputs the extracted data of diagnostic material in order according tothe closeness-of-fit.
 2. The support system for trouble handlingaccording to claim 1, which further comprises: an actual result storageunit in which event data of troubles, data of diagnostic material havingbeen selected in determining causes of the troubles, and handlingprocedure data of procedures having been performed to handle thetroubles are stored as actual cases of troubles; and a closeness-of-fitdecision unit to perform a process of deciding closeness-of-fit of dataof diagnostic material to each one of the event data according to numberof times or frequency at which each one of the data of diagnosticmaterial has been selected among the cases of troubles stored in theactual result storage unit.
 3. The support system for trouble handlingaccording to claim 2, wherein the closeness-of-fit decision unitperforms the process of deciding closeness-of-fit at predetermined timeintervals.
 4. The support system for trouble handling according to claim2, wherein the closeness-of-fit decision unit performs the process ofdeciding closeness-of-fit every time a predetermined number of cases oftroubles are added to the actual result storage unit.
 5. The supportsystem for trouble handling according to claim 1, wherein the diagnosticpath storage unit further stores therein data to decide degrees ofpriority of the handling procedure data for the respective ones of thecauses, and wherein according to the degrees of priority, the handlingprocedure presentation unit presents the handling procedure dataextracted from the diagnostic path storage unit.
 6. The support systemfor trouble handling according to claim 5, wherein the diagnostic pathstorage unit stores, as the data to decide the degrees of priority, timerequired for each handling procedure.
 7. The support system for troublehandling according to claim 5, wherein the diagnostic path storage unitstores, as the data to decide the degrees of priority, cost required toperform each handling procedure.
 8. The support system for troublehandling according to claim 5, wherein the diagnostic path storage unitstores, as the data to decide the degrees of priority, average time fromafter each handling procedure has been performed until the same eventoccurs due to the same cause in the same equipment.
 9. The supportsystem for trouble handling according to claim 5, which allows a user toinput selection to select which of the data to decide the degrees ofpriority, using, as the data to decide the degrees of priority, at leasttwo of: (1) time required for each handling procedure; (2) cost requiredto perform each handling procedure; and (3) time from after eachhandling procedure has been performed until the same event occurs due tothe same cause in the same equipment.
 10. The support system for troublehandling according to claim 1, wherein the handling procedure datacontains action content to describe individual actions.
 11. The supportsystem for trouble handling according to claim 1, which furthercomprises: an input unit to selectively or optionally input acombination of the event data, the data of diagnostic material and thehandling procedure data; and a new path registration unit to interrelateand store, in the diagnostic path storage unit, the event data, the dataof diagnostic material and the handling procedure data that are input bythe input unit.
 12. A terminal to be connected to the support system fortrouble handling according to claim 1, the terminal comprising: an eventinput unit to input event data of troubles occurring in an equipment; adiagnostic material input unit to receive data of diagnostic materialoutput by the diagnostic material presentation unit and to selectivelyinput some of data of diagnostic material as selected from the receiveddata of diagnostic material; and a handling procedure display unit toreceive handling procedure data output by the handling procedurepresentation unit and to display the received handling procedure data.